WASHINGTON, DC – Winners of the Industrial Minerals Association – North America (IMA-NA) safety recognition awards were announced by IMA-NA Chairman Kevin Porterfield and IMA-NA President Mark Ellis at the group’s spring meeting.

The safety recognition awards program is run in cooperation with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Honorees included 14 companies and 28 individual mining operations. The two classes of awards recognize different levels of safety performance. Performance is based on MSHA data on injuries and employment information, as reported by the operators.

The IMA-NA Safety Achievement Award recognizes the best reportable injury rate for an individual IMA-NA member company by size category for the preceding calendar year, in this case 2011. The award criteria evaluate a company’s safety performance at all of its U.S. facilities and non-U.S. mining sites in North America. This year’s winners include:

OCI Wyoming L.P. – 808,808 hours

Atlanta

Large Category (700,000 or more employee hours)

Badger Mining Corp. – 287,671 hours

Berlin, Wis.

Medium Category (Fewer than 700,000, but more than 100,000 employee hours)

Old Hickory Clay Co. – 75,625 hours

Mayfield, Ky.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

“The safety performance of these IMA members is truly inspiring,” said IMA-NA’s Mark Ellis. “OCI Wyoming had only one injury while working 808,808 employee hours, for an injury rate of 0.25 per 200,000 employee work-hours. This is the third time that OCI Wyoming has earned the large company category award in as many years. Badger Mining Corp. also had only one injury while working 287,671 employee hours, for an injury rate of 0.70 per 200,000 employee work-hours. Old Hickory Clay Co. had a zeroreportable injury rate, while working 75,625 employee work-hours. To put that in perspective, the preliminary injury rate for all metal and non-metal mines in 2011 was 2.43.”

Eleven additional Small Category companies tied the winning zero reportable injury rate, but had fewer employee hours. Of these companies, Ellis said, “These honorees operated all of their mines throughout 2011 with zero injuries. That truly is benchmark mine safety performance.” Each company received a Safety Achievement Certificate in recognition of their outstanding safety performance. The companies include:

Ricci Brothers Sand Co., Inc. – 68,232 hours

Port Norris, N.J.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

Superior Silica Sands LLC – 67,272 hours

Kosse, Texas

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

Manley Brothers, Inc. – 64,326 hours

Troy Grove, Ill.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

Ohio Basic Minerals LLC – 39,144 hours

Denver, Colo.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

A.F. Gelhar Co., Inc. – 34,465 hours

Fairwater, Wis.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

Bryan Rock Products, Inc. – 30,717 hours

Shakopee, Minn.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

S&B Industrial Minerals North America, Inc. – 25,796 hours

Berwyn, Pa.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

Mankato Kasota Stone, Inc. – 14,719 hours

Mankato, Minn.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

Southern Ohio Sand – 12,131 hours

Willoughby, Ohio

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

George W. Bryant Core Sands, Inc. – 9,992 hours

McConnellsville, N.Y.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

RLF Baldwin Operations LLC – 7,432 hours

Magnolia Springs, Ala.

Small Category (Fewer than 100,000 employee hours)

Also recognized are 28 individual IMA-NA-member U.S. mining operations for working 200,000 continuous employee hours during 2011 without a single reportable employee injury. This year’s honorees include:

“MSHA and IMA-NA strive to help the industry achieve its ultimate goal – sending safe and healthy miners home to their families, every shift, every day,” said Kevin Porterfield, IMA-NA’s General Manager (Talc) of Specialty Minerals, Inc. (Bethlehem, Pa.). “We’re pleased to recognize IMA-NA member companies that have compiled excellent safety records and who serve as examples for other companies.”